Take These Broken Wings And Learn To Fly
by BernieAndSerenaLovex
Summary: Serena has been on a rocky road since daughter Elinor's death. Bernie finds herself extremely worried for Serena's welfare after recent events. (Inspired by events of the Spring Trailer.) Trigger warnings: Alcoholism. Bullying. Violence. Self-abuse and later Suicidal actions & thoughts.
1. Chapter 1

p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Bernie ran up the stairs, opening the corridor door and ran hurriedly down the corridor and banged on the door. ''Serena! Serena! Open up!'' She shouted distressed and scared. ''Serena! Please! Darling, open up!''/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Fletch watched on as he backed into the wall with Jasmine stood next to him. ''Go get security Jas'' He said as he turned to Jasmine./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="text-decoration: underline;"4 weeks earlier./span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Bernie awoke to find Serena wasn't beside her. It had been 4 weeks since the death of Serena's daughter Elinor, and Serena was finding it hard to cope with. She had returned to work the week before, and had arrived home late almost every night. Bernie had her suspicions as to where Serena had been, but couldn't bring herself to pull Serena up about it, instead she just tried to be there for her, as her partner, a confidant and a friend. Bernie's heart was breaking watching Serena go through all this./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"She looked at the clock on her bedside table, it said ''03:37''. Sitting up she heard sobs coming from the en-suite. She stood from the bed and walked over to the bathroom door, trying to open it. ''Serena? Darling. Can you open the door?'' She asked./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Serena jumped at Bernie's voice and covered her face with her hands as she sat over the toilet. ''Go away!'' she shouted between sobs. ''I can't Serena, and I'm not going too. Now please open the door'' Bernie replied./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"''I..'' Serena uttered. ''Please darling, just open the door!'' Bernie pleaded as she tried to open the door once more. Serena admitted defeat and leaned up to the door handle to unlock the door before slumping back down to the floor. Bernie heard the door unlock and walked inside the bathroom. ''Oh Serena.. Darling'' She soothed as she sat down next to Serena and pulled her into her arms. ''Why didn't you wake me?''/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Serena cried into Bernie's embrace. ''I.. I need to get up. Get ready, I need to go home''/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"''No.'' Bernie shook her head. ''You don't. You don't need to leave Serena. You can stay here, you know that. You can always stay here. I'm here, I'll always be here darling. We'll get through this, I promise. I know Elinor's not here anymore, but that doesn't mean her memory isn't or her spirit''/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Serena pulled away from Bernie and scowled at her before getting up from the floor. ''How dare you?! How dare you say that? What right do you have Bernie? You didn't know her! She was my daughter, not yours!'' She shouted before running from the bathroom and grabbed her things from the bedroom./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"''Serena! Serena, wait!'' Bernie shouted after her but Serena had gone. She walked into the bedroom and grabbed her phone and called Serena's number. ''Come on Serena. Come on. Answer''/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Serena was walking down the street and heard her phone ring in her pocket, she stopped and checked her phone seeing it was Bernie, she declined the call and turned off her phone and continued to walk the 10 minute journey to her house. She arrived home and unlocked the door and walked inside. She dropped her things in the hall next to the door and made her way into the kitchen to grab a bottle of wine, she didn't bother to reach for a glass, she didn't care, not anymore. She opened the wine and began to drink from the bottle./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Bernie pulled up outside Serena's and got out of the car. She walked up the door and tried the handle finding it unlocked and walked inside. ''Serena?'' She questioned as she wandered around the downstairs of the house, consequently finding her in the kitchen. ''Serena. Please, put the bottle down. This has gone on long enough''/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Serena huffed and scowled at Bernie. ''Just go Bernie, get out! How dare you just walk in here Bernie! Just get out'' She shouted before barging passed Bernie, only for Bernie to gently grab Serena to prevent her from leaving. ''Serena. No! I'm not letting you do this, you're not gonna push me away anyway'' Bernie said./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Serena tried to pull away. ''Get off me Bernie! Let me go!'' She scowled again. Bernie shook her head. ''No Serena, I won't let go. I won't sit by and watch you do this. Not anymore. I won't let you push me away'' Something then snapped in Serena and she struck Bernie. ''I said let go off me!'' She shouted as she hit Bernie again./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Bernie was taken aback and grasped her face where Serena had struck her. ''I-I..''/p 


	2. Chapter 2

blockquote  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"-br /Bernie was taken aback and grasped her face where Serena had struck her. ''I-I..''/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Serena stared at Bernie, the reality of what she had just done sinking in. ''Bernie, I-I..'' She uttered out as tears formed in her eyes. ''I-I'm sorry..'' She cried before dropping the bottle on the floor, smashing it in the process and running from the kitchen up to her room. Serena slammed the door behind her and collapsed on her bed in tears. How could she let that happen? She had just struck Bernie. Her partner, her friend, the love of her life. She hated herself. How could she ever expect Bernie to forgive her? She had attacked her, used psychical violence on the blonde. Something she had always told herself she would never do. Having been victim to violence herself at multiple points in her life. A few times during her marriage to Edward, he had hit her never too seriously but never the less he had hurt her. To the times her mother would abuse her during the horrible moments of her diagnosis of her dementia. Serena curled up into a ball as she continued to cry. She was brought out of her thoughts at the sound of Bernie entering the bedroom./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"''Serena. Oh Serena, darling!'' Bernie said in a hushed tone as she walked over to the brunette and sat down beside her on the bed. ''It's okay darling. It's okay. I promise'' She said taking Serena into her arms. ''We will get through this. Together.'' Serena cried into Bernie's embrace as she gripped on to the blondes sleeve. ''I-I.. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry Bernie. I'm so sorry'' Serena breathed out between tears. ''I'm sorry..'' She repeated./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Bernie held the brunette close as she stroked her hair. ''Ssh. It's okay.'' She said as she consoled her partner. ''You didn't mean it Serena. You didn't mean it. I know that you would never intentionally hurt me darling''/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Serena held onto Bernie as Bernie continued to stroke the brunettes hair. ''Come on. Get ready for bed darling. You need sleep. And I'm calling work tomorrow and taking the day off for both of us''/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"''But-but.. no Bernie, I can't. I have that operation and I need to do that mannequin with Dr Burrows. I can't just take time off Bernie. No! I'm going into work'' Serena replied as she sat up and pulled away from Bernie to let at her. Only then seeing the reality of what she had inflicted onto the Bernie. ''Oh god..'' She cried as lifted her hand to grasp the blondes face. ''You're bleeding, oh god. I'm so sorry Bernie. I'm so sorry'' She cried and stood up from the bed, backing herself into the wall, afraid she might hurt her again. ''You-you.. you need to leave Bernie. You need to leave''/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"''No. Serena, I'm okay. I'm okay, it's okay. Come back, it was an accident'' Bernie replied, standing from the bed and walking towards Serena. ''No! Go away! I don't wanna hurt you again'' Serena said as she started to shake. ''I don't want to hurt you!''/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Bernie stood still in her tracks as she held a hand out to Serena. ''Darling. You won't hurt me. I promise. I won't let you hurt me. Nothing bad is gonna happen. Please Serena'' She pleaded with the brunette. ''I won't let anything bad happen''/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Serena hesitated for a few seconds, tears falling down her face as she breathed heavily and looked at Bernie before taking her hand. Serena fell into Bernie's embrace and cried. ''I'm sorry..'' She repeated over and over again. Bernie consoled her and walked her over to the bed and sat her down. ''Come on darling, lie down. I'm right here. I won't let go.'' Serena turned into Bernie who held her close and kissed her head. ''I'm not going anywhere darling, I'm right here''/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Bernie held Serena close and the brunette slowly fell asleep. She looked at the clock on the wall showing '05:30', she looked down at her partner and cried. She hated seeing Serena go through all this, she loved her so much and wanted to take all the pain away but couldn't. The day of Elinor's accident, Bernie had planned a night out for the couple, a quick drink in Albie's then a little italian restaurant in town and then a stroll down the canal with all the lights and sights. She wanted it to be perfect, she had planned to tell Serena she loved her for the first time and wanted to give her a key to her flat. She hadn't planned to ask her to move in, that would be too soon, she just wanted to show her the commitment and love she had for the brunette and wanted Serena to know how committed she was to their relationship./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"-/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"2 hours later and the pair were awoken by the sound of Serena's alarm chiming. Serena found she was still in Bernie's embrace and for a few moments before reality hit, she hadn't realised the previous nights events. Bernie looked down at Serena and smiled softly. ''Good morning..''br /''Mm.. Bernie?'' Serena questioned. ''What happened, last night?'' Bernie shuffled back on the bed and removed herself from Serena. ''Oh nothing, it's okay. I'll just go get changed'' Both women would kept a few sets of clothes at each others place just in case./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Serena watched as Bernie left the bedroom and walk into the bathroom. She stood from her bed and went downstairs to make coffee for them both. Her head was hurting so bad. She walked into the kitchen and noticed her iPhone on the table. She picked it up and turned it on as she walked over to the kettle and turned it on before grabbing 2 mugs from the cupboard. Her phone took a few moments to switch on. The kettle boiled and she poured the coffee, just in time for Bernie to come downstairs and walk into the kitchen./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"''There you are, Coffee is served. Darling, there you go'' Serena smiled as she turned around to give Bernie her coffee. Bernie sat at the breakfast table. Serena couldn't help but see that the blonde had changed her hair up this morning then she stopped in her tracks as she realised the reason why. ''Oh god, Bernie! Your face'' She said as she placed the mugs on the table and grasped Bernie's face. Bernie turned her face. ''It's okay Serena. I'm fine'' She didn't wanna talk about it and instead chose to change the subject. ''So the mannequin operation?'' Serena looked at Bernie. ''But Bernie, darling..''/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"''No. Serena, I don't wanna talk about it. It's fine!''-/p  
/blockquote 


End file.
